What process do you use to hire an employee to select the most qualified?

In my past experience more than 50% candidates make little or no effort learning about the job, the company and the industry. How do you weed them out early in the process and what criteria do you use to reasonably assure that candidate will perform as expected?

The most qualified are not necessarily the best candidates. You want someone who wants to work for you -- not someone who just wants a job. Otherwise, they will be more inclined to leave if a (seemingly) better opportunity comes along.

We have a robust interviewing process. I like to do preliminary interviews over the phone which creates 3-5 candidates. The in-person interviews start with the department head, then their team, and then me. We do a personality assessment on all candidates to confirm they have the aptitude for the job. Finally, past experience is key. They need to be able to communicate specific examples that are similar to the job and what their specific contribution was to that project or client.

First importance of past experience in similar projects. If they have done similar works before they

can be hired for the job. Example, if you needed a drafter, you want people who have done drawing

or have a degree in some form of drafting skills. You don't want to hire a plumber for this position. Another example, if you need a web software programmer and some programmers walks in and say they don't know how to do that but great in C++ and the old schools of programming then you can't hire that person. They could learn them but it takes time and money for training until they know how. It takes so much time it will bury your business. It all depends on the project and knowledge needed for a project. It is hard to hire someone with many types of skills. Some do exist but they are very employable and can demand very high pay. These are people who normally join startups and start their own businesses unless they have mental problems. Yes, there are mentally skilled very smart people out there that do not care much about making a lot of money but loves to have fun. The only problem is they are very few of them.

I agree with Steven Rubensteinas well. The initial phone screen is very helpful, but you should also ask the right questions on that first phone screen. Questions such as: What do you know about our company? Why do you want to work here? Walking through why they left every other position on their resume. What other opportunities have you applied to and are currently interviewing for? Why are you the best candidate for the position? You also want to ask many behavioral questions. These questions will be a very good indication of whether or not they will advance to the next round. References are also a must do for ensuring a good fit.

Good conversation on this already on here, here's one http://members.founderdating.com/discuss/221/What-are-your-favorite-interview-questions-to-determine-culture-personality-fit but just do a search and you'll see others

My approach has always been to try to hire the candidate who during the interview process, comes across as the most honest and believable. I have always felt that no job is too complex to teach to an individual who wants to learn.